4 Tips to Improve Your Employee Retention
Employee retention is one of the business topics that never go out of fashion. One way or another, challenges keep popping up, so it is critically important to set up quality procedures and practices that will make your employees happy to be where they are.
It is exactly in “where they are” that the issues may originate. Namely, with the rise of remote work, businesses that don’t offer flexible schedules and work models are certain to lose the battle in the long run, so let’s start from this point.
Flexible Work Models
Hybrid work models are all the rage these days. What’s more, they aren’t going anywhere. Just think about it logically: why would anyone waste a couple of hours each day to get ready for and commute to work when they can go to the room next door and enjoy their morning coffee while enjoying their daily work?
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Think in terms of talents scattered all across the world. Why would your business miss the chance to hire them?
Thankfully, to attract and retain talent, businesses don’t need to move to remote work overnight, and neither do they have to abandon existing work models. They just need to adjust.
There are six different hybrid work models, as follows:
- Partially remote work, with flexible office space – no permanent offices; rented flex space used for periodic collaboration (but not connectivity)
- Almost entirely on premises – limited remote work, large office space the majority of managers and workers
- Partially remote work, multiple hubs – multiple offices with the workforce dispersed among them
- Partially remote work, large office space – the majority of managers and workers spend most, but not all, of their time at the office
- Almost entirely off premises – mostly remote work with no office space
- Multiple microhubs – management and employees are dispersed across small microhubs located in different cities (or countries, depending on the scope of your business operations)
As you can see, there’s a suitable model for every business on the planet here and also for every employee. Whether they’re paying their expat taxes in China or working from their home in the U.S., everyone can fit in!
Extended Onboarding and Training
Onboarding new employees is a demanding task, but it needs to be spotless nevertheless.
Onboarding training should begin from day one as you’d want new hires to align with your business vision and procedures ASAP.
In addition, continual training is recommended. It shouldn’t be too difficult a leap, either. Progress is, well… progressing, meaning that new knowledge will wait for no one.
eLearning is often more convenient than traditional learning, first and foremost because it is accessible from anywhere and around the clock, so you won’t have to brainstorm how to gather people from different time zones.
However, make sure that your training programs are well structured to eliminate information overload. This is too often the case, so be careful.
To begin with, analyze your business’ training needs. Not everyone needs to know everything, so plan ahead.
Deploying up-to-date tech goes without saying.
There are some tips for nailing your training procedures. Here’s a useful checklist:
- Detail job responsibilities, duties, schedules, and payment information to new hires to avoid negative experiences
- Submit a job requisition document to managers in charge
- Gather all the forms new employees need to fill out
- Provide all devices and tools for new hires
- Set up all necessary accounts and logins for new hires
- Schedule orientation sessions early on
Feel free to add any other tip that comes to mind. After all, no one knows your business better than yourself.
Streamlined Knowledge Sharing
Embed knowledge sharing in your business culture. Here are some tips on how to improve knowledge sharing across the board:
- Encourage & foster a knowledge sharing culture
- Create Spaces for knowledge sharing to happen
- Encourage knowledge sharing activities
- Lead by example
- Have experts share their knowledge
- Formalize a knowledge management process
- Use the most effective knowledge sharing tools
Learn about each of these steps in detail by following the link provided above.
Finally, stay up to date with current management trends, which presently recommend:
- IoT for asset management
- Cloud-based software for remote work
- Artificial intelligence for business automation
- Inventory management software for supply chains
Employee Feedback
Last but not least, set up regular employee engagement surveys. For the best results, make your feedback system anonymous to ensure honesty.
In the long run, you’ll be happy that you thought about it in advance as dealing with complaints in a timely manner is certain to improve your employee retention.
These are but the basics; move on in accordance with your business goals but, no matter what you do, don’t forget to adjust your approaches and procedures to accommodate a better work environment.
